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Hard for Germany to find alternative to Incirlik Air Base - expert

It is hard for the Western countries, in particular Germany, to find an alternative to Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base, Prof. Dr. Salih Yilmaz of the Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University told Trend June 7.

Yilmaz, an expert in international relations, was commenting on Germany’s decision to withdraw its Air Force from the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey.

“The withdrawal of the German Air Force from the Incirlik Air Base and the Air Force’s deployment in Cyprus is not such a simple issue,” the expert said.

He went on to add that for the deployment of the German Air Force in Cyprus, it is first necessary to obtain permission from the UK and a number of other countries.

“One can state that there are also a number of obstacles for the deployment of the German Air Force in Jordan,” Yilmaz said. “As is known, at present, there are US military bases in that country and it is not yet known whether the Jordanian authorities will approve such a decision of Germany.”

Germany decided to withdraw its Air Force from the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey after the country blocked a group of German lawmakers from visiting the servicemen at the Incirlik Air Base prompting German Chancellor Angela Merkel to suggest that Berlin may consider moving 250 troops stationed at the Air Base to one of the neighboring countries.

In turn, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a possible withdrawal of the German Air Force contingent from the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey poses no problem for Ankara.

Planes of the US-led coalition members, which participate in air operations against the so-called Islamic State (IS aka ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group, are stationed at the Incirlik Air Base.